The Trials of Faith

A writer's imaginations can be subjected to dark influences which, if persistent, will become intruding factors in the development of a story. Feelings of doubt or inadequacy, of anxiety or of being overwhelmed by the task at hand can settle into the mind & create a shadow. If unchecked, this shadow begins to permeate, with potential to develop into lingering states of emotional melancholia, persistent impressions of inadequacy or in the extreme, the morass of a suicidal depression.

Does addressing the imagination with doubt pertaining to what it is revealing have any direct impact on the visions it projects? Is it possible to impose previously held concepts of truth or of right & wrong on the contents of what the creative mind projects across the inner screen?

The question may bear some fruit. If we are to acknowledge consciously, then mindfully the disconnect we feel when the imaginary aspect tells us something we know to be false or inappropriate, the same creative function might then take those reservations into consideration & work to include what is known or acceptable. Through an attempt to connect with imagination consciously & rationally, might we bring the projections closer to what is considered a keener interpretation?

Conscious awareness of negative conditions may be difficult to attain. Many creatives work from a place of negative inspiration; that willful demonstration of value at any cost; a capability of mastering goals set forward, come what may. In these instances, inspiration grinds from desires to ward-off judgement; motivation finds genesis in negative external influence.

{Images by Bert Kupferman}

For Old Time's Sake

Once the old imagination starts to spin & I have made all required adjustments to environment in order to offer the freedom of lending this mysterious mechanism all attention necessary to instruct the visions yearned for capture into letters—why then & so often only then—the dissociation is sublime.

Under this rarefied influence, I forget embarrassing gratitude; wonder has silently taken the place of awe.

Where do we go when the mind opens potent avenues of creation? How is it that an organ inside the skull bewitches & transmogrifies the everyday into a vision creatively compelling?

Swimming amoungst conjured images, manufactured through privilege & fascination, the world I have struggled to comprehend crystallizes. It is here that the depth of feeling I read about becomes manifest; it is here where the potential I have reached for reveals the particulars of passage.

Through the act of creative writing, I begin to understand process.

The surface of imagination is invisible yet I envision an elastic thin skim—a seal across time & experience. Sometimes behind a poised intent or on other occasions lazily & for recreation, I break below that porous seal & all sense shoots full of wonder. Experience evolves; history waits to be embellished.

Over & over the mind dips into mysterious waters; time & again the same mind floods with scenes which I am only permitted to witness.

{Photography by Cecil Beaton}

The Power of Re-Invention

Imagination can be fired like a blast furnace. It can burn-off resentment or churn biter materials for a lingering grudge. Imagination settles injustice & privately plays the scenes where we all come out victorious. It manufactures a world where we are not required to adapt or mollify.

My imagination tries hard to teach moral lessons. I frequently rewind uncomfortable scenes, moments where I acted-out, only to later savour these displays of courage & audacity. Sometimes, I learn from hypothetical coaching; sometimes I take things too far as a result of ardent projection.

Sometimes imagination goes quiet. I search for an image & there is nothing, not even the snow which once indicated a scrambled television station. The inner mind is just inky blackness. I try to fire the screen by conscious projection, perhaps something sexual in the hope that this fantasy will re-ignite the interior regions. Imagination flickers but dissolves back into silence.

I feel flat without this refraction. I shall coax a closed mind back into action.

A few deep breaths & the setting is the maze of imagination. I wander it's tunnels under a light spell, permitting the screen to direct flow & sequence. Time suspends & is on the verge of spinning backward yet I am not in the vortex of memory. As I follow the stream of images, I anticipate a current of new awakening, expectant in needing to be re-adjusted.

I revel in the potentiality of a dawning vision; I ask for transformation.

{Paintings by Katrien De Blauwer }

Expansion

What happens in those rare instances when speculation is surpassed by events in everyday life? In the interior world, much is exaggerated for the purpose of equanimity. When reality exceeds those crafty expectation, there arises excitement—a thrill which strikes like Providence—magic has happened in the real world.

Have I been successful in educating imagination? Has conscious awareness trained the inner screen to anticipate only the plausible? Is this a factor of cache, of practical experience which defines the walls of maturity? Through initial frustration & disappointment, imaginative expectation can be taught to extrapolate only the feasible.

Put all of your eggs in one basket — & watch that basket

 

When unburdening disappointment, we vow never again. Does the unconscious mind eventually take  hard-knock lessons into account, no matter how long it took to forge the connection? Is it a particular style of self-defense, this corralling of expectation in hope against disappointment? We all know compromise can go too far. We might find ourselves expecting less than capable of. Perhaps an argument could be made defending the lack of initial confidence. This period of uncertainty is a mandatory component before activating latent potential.

So the bar is raised; a field of vision adjusts to somewhere further along the golden horizon.When we surprise ourselves, we learn of greater ability. Sustained through future trials, experience promises growth if manifested through the lens of practical wisdom.

{Photographs by Vassilis Tangoulis}

Consider: Reasonable

Would passion be possible without the ardent assistance of an imagination to define potential to enliven, then swallow all constricting reason?

Think of the absurdity of love: Who would chose to resist it's undertow, only to surrender to reckless loss of control? Can we blame imagination for this collapse? It is the projections of pleasure & safety which uncurls the grip on our regular, more reticent selves, those sensibilities which maintain self-control. These delicate fantasies; these secret plans— surely it is hidden whispers of bliss which hurl us off cliffs of all that would normally be considered sensible?

What greater vulnerability than the temptations of an over-heated imagination, spinning potential for validation which love lends to defenseless, self-hypnotized victims? The mind awaits experiences of what imagination has outlined as worthy. There is joy when this expectation is realized; there is sorrow when hopes are ground away under discordant circumstance.

Love through the filter of imagination is potential. It is the realization of entitlement—we deserve love. Without it, we are empty & striving, rejected in some severe, invisible manner. The moods of love lift us from isolation & collects the heart into a swirling whirlpool which never drowns nor pulls asunder. Spirits dance & twirl, satisfied in self-worth.

No mind considers nothing. To rest is to perish; to lose faith in love is to live in exile.


{Paintings by Josephine Wall}

 

The Dissolution of Assumption

If a curious writer decides to contain the workings of imagination to a particular time or theme the creative mind is preoccupied by, is this commitment all that is required to build a foundation which will long-serves as generator for creative function?

Better still: to further develop a manuscript towards texture & finesse, there is the option of reading by chance: accepting whichever book Great Sequence delivers & trusting this new material will blend into the mosaic already underway. Choices for enrichment are inviting but a broadly-applied creativity is needed to ingest new material into what has already been so carefully established.

                                                   
Reading for knowledge is richly rewarding; to learn is power. One of my favourite experiences is to have an earlier assumption re-organized & expanded by the erudite words of someone who has studied a particular subject more deeply. It is a serious gratitude released for the wise writer who bores deeper than I might have once thought possible.

Gifted minds unfold insight & an eager imagination tags along—a swirling whirly-gig of feelings, impressions & gleaned facts wash over former belief. New scenes are created in the banks of knowledge; broader understanding supplants the half-baked. I happily discard the outdated for I have intimate trust, never questioning the writer’s hand who has revealed assumption. An ability to massage & knead earlier bias into fresh perspective is the transference of wisdom.

In the fertile plains of imagination, all that I am expands.

A little knowledge can go a long way but it might not be in a practical direction. How many times have I over-estimated my abilities because I was seduced by some excellence built in the safety of fantasy? Imagination knows where to fill in the gaps: it knows where to fudge the fussy details of actual accomplishment so that I feel as though I always can.

Like a parent allowing a child to assist in some task beyond a level of understanding or skill, my imagination wants me to build confidence by just getting the gist of a thing.

These good intentions allow for a belief in the unlimited power of potential.

{Photographs by Paul Apal'kin}

Sequence & the Guile of Imagination

Sometimes when working double-duty, imagination attempts to not only synthesize polarity in a story but also lay personal ghosts to rest. Somewhere inside the whirly-gig, the imaginative mind fastens onto raw memory from my own past & inserts this as plausible for a character. Even if this specific memory fits into part of an unfolding narrative, I reject it for being too personal yet marvel at the resourcefulness. The mind is attempting to both create & heal; to resolve & entertain.

If I become impatient, I tend to force the issue. In the heat of the battle, the field being the space I am attempting to fill with the next piece of exposition, I start to fling possibilities into the hopper. What if? Could this? Maybe? The more I crank the handle of this mysterious function of potentiality, the more content is generated. It can become a type of frenzy; I engorge the mind with possibility, believing like some empty glutton that more is always required.

It is the objective of this blog to educate the source of imagination.The questions sustains—which are methods best assist this process? Fresh input is essential. Is it more effective to read based on themes of current fascination, layering in new grist for the mill of word play? Or it better to research based upon what presently correlates to the arch of a character's development?

Perhaps it is wiser to begin somewhere near the beginning?

{Paintings by Carol Nelson}